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Why I Love Torrent Files – It Downloads What It Needs
Revisions:
12-22-12: Initial release.
12-23-12: Added prologue text.
Prologue: Guys, the information you will read in this article is just one very specific scenario. There are other benefits than using it to help download corrupted files of “stuff” that you may have stored on your computer downloaded from previous days. Other benefits include faster downloading, resuming capabilities, and low system overhead resources.
So a few days ago, I had a copy of Call of Duty: World at War that I had saved on my external hard drives a few years ago, as my retail disc copy got scratched and unreadable.
As I was getting ready to make a future tutorial for this game, I tried to unzip my RAR files, only to find out that I could not because it was corrupted somehow?
[How To] Use Bittorrent – Utorrent
Update 4-5-09: Added another youtube video explaining Utorrent options more in depth.
I love Bittorrent. Bittorrent is an extremely efficient method of using P2P technology to distribute files across the Internet to the masses. This post is not a lesson on the technology behind bittorrent. Instead, I am going to show you what you need and how you can start finding software (among other things) on the Internet. Please note that Bittorrent itself is a legal medium, but the content that you download with Bittorrent may not. This is a tool, and I am not held responsible for how you use it.
Tools:
Need a Bittorrent client. I recommend utorrent. Find it at www.utorrent.com
Get the latest version. After installing it, it will look like the screen shot below:
Now afterwards you need what is considered a Torrent file. This is a small 1kb file that tells your Bittorrent client how to download the file. If you go to http://www.torrentz.com and search for Ubuntu, you will see many links. I happened to find a link and download it off of mininova.org.
After you add it to your torrent client, the file will start downloading. Once the file finishes downloading, you can then decide what you want to do whether that is install the program, or burn it to a disc.
What is important to achieve faster Bittorrent speeds is to enable the ports on your router. For a good guide on this, go to www.portforward.com and find the utorrent guide for your router.
When you go to the speed guide in Utorrent, you can specify a manual port:
To see a video of this in action, watch my video below for a quick tutorial on how to setup yourself for Bittorrent usage and port forwarding.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mdpb5FH5tY
Below is another video going into some of the other utorrent options.
Demonoid – Help Improve The Underground Process
The post that gives me the most trouble here on the Underground is everyone asking for an invite code. Almost every frickin’ day someone comes along and asks, “Hey, can you give me an invite?”
Or “How about me too?” After a while, the google spreadsheet was born. In the beginning, I had faith that people had good will and would enter in their names and be done with it.
This worked well, except I quickly realized I had no control. Were there spam bots? How did I know people weren’t just typing in a bunch of fake email address or what? Hence, I decided that I had to control the spreadsheet myself. By having people enter in their requests through the comments, I am able to update the spreadsheet.
How does the Versatile1 system work with invites?
I will tell you how it currently works and what is the process:
1) E-mail people the “test” email. What I do here is I have a pre-written script that I just copy and paste to people. It has very specific instructions in there, and I tell people to respond to me as soon as possible. The e-mail contact is then added to a temporary demonid category list.
2) If people respond, I send them invite. If people don’t respond within a week, I go online to the google spreadsheet and mark them as “EPIC FAIL ACCOUNTS”.
3) For those people who I sent an invite, I ask them if it works. If it does, I add them to the official “Demonoid” category mailing list.
4) Once or twice a month I send out a mass email to the “Demonoid” mailing list asking for invites. It works in a sense I get a crapload of invites. Then I start the circle all over again and sending test emails. If not enough people respond, I have a bunch of expired codes. That is no good!
So now the new method is on the master e-mail list, I ask that people who can generate codes respond to me, but don’t send me any codes yet. I will collect a pool of active participants, and ask them to send me invites one by one.
This way I can distribute invite codes on demand, whithout having to get stuck in a situation where I have more codes on the verge of expiration than participants.
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The point of this post is to get feedback from you guys. What do you think is a better method of doing this? Any thoughts? For now the system works fine. I’m cleaning up my mass e-mail list and adding flair to my test email. If there is anything else I should be considering, let me know.
THIS POST IS NOT MEANT FOR COMMENTS ASKING FOR DEMONOID INVITES. GO TO THE OTHER BLOG LINK FOR DEMONOID INVITES, GEEZ.
https://versatile1.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/demonoid-free-invites-underground-trading-circle/
Rockin’ Friday! – ’10 Inconvenient Truths’
Marty Friedman -Ex Member of Megadeth
Hello everyone! This week I will reply to this site I found about music piracy, simply titled ‘Music Piracy – Ten Inconvenient Truths.’ I found this on the ‘IFPI’ site, which represents the worldwide recording industry. Here are the 10 inconvenient truths it listed:
1. Pirate Bay, one of the flagships of the anti-copyright movement, makes thousands of euros from advertising on its site, while maintaining its anti-establishment “free music” rhetoric.
2. Allofmp3.com, the well-known Russian website, has not been licensed by a single IFPI member, has been disowned by right holder groups worldwide and is facing criminal proceedings in Russia.
3. Organised criminal gangs and even terrorist groups use the sale of counterfeit CDs to raise revenue and launder money.
4. Illegal file-sharers don’t care whether the copyright infringing work they distribute is from a major or independent label.
5. Reduced revenues for record companies mean less money available to take a risk on “underground” artists and more inclination to invest in “bankers” like American Idol stars.
6. ISPs often advertise music as a benefit of signing up to their service, but facilitate the illegal swapping on copyright infringing music on a grand scale.
7. The anti-copyright movement does not create jobs, exports, tax revenues and economic growth – it largely consists of people pontificating on a commercial world about which they know little.
8. Piracy is not caused by poverty. Professor Zhang of Nanjing University found the Chinese citizens who bought pirate products were mainly middle or higher income earners.
9. Most people know it is wrong to file-share copyright infringing material but won’t stop till the law makes them, according to a recent study by the Australian anti-piracy group MIPI.
10. P2P networks are not hotbeds for discovering new music. It is popular music that is illegally file-shared most frequently.
Now, I wish to to dispute a few of these comments, and add my own. Of course, I have no numbers to back me up, unlike the IFPI, and this is merely my opinion. If I’ve said anything that’s blatantly wrong, let me know in the comments and I’ll take it back. So here are my 10 inconvenient truths:
- (Point 1) The Pirate Bay making money through advertising has little to do with the “free music” it provides/advocates. Advertising companies pay the Pirate Bay for advertising space, and therefore Pirate Bay can afford to provide free stuff. Webcomics such as Ctrl-Alt-Del sell advertising space so they can afford to continue writing their comics and hosting them. The Pirate Bay making money in such a way means that they aren’t making money at anyone’s expense.
- (Point 3) Sure, counterfeit CDs can be sold to make money for criminals. But what money can they possibly make from free file-sharing?
- (Point 5) Reduced revenues for record companies and therefore reduced interest in underground bands just forces these underground bands to find other ways to get in touch with the people which these record companies are further alienating through their brutish attempts to control them. An example is the Arctic Monkeys, who, although now a huge UK band, started off gaining mainstream popularity through MySpace. Underground bands don’t need record companies to get popular if they’re good. ‘Bankers’ do.
- (Point 7) Anti-copyright movements mostly consist of the consumers who are getting more and more fed-up with the methods of organisations such as the RIAA. They may not know much about the economical aspect of the music industry, but they know a lot when it comes down to how their rights are being treated, hence the backlash.
- (Point 10) Anti-piracy campaigners often claim that it is the underground and small bands that suffer, yet how is this true if it is mostly the popular music that is downloaded?
- And if it is the popular bands that receive the most attention from pirates, surely they are also the ones most able to handle it financially?
- The most money a musician or band makes is rarely from album or single sales. Merchandise and Live performances are the true money-makers for most.
- Due to the way the consumer is being alienated by these organisations and record companies, musicians are finding other ways to get in touch, and those that don’t are losing popularity. Look at what happened to Metallica when they took on Napster. And now look at bands such as Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead, who are finding new ways to bring their music to the masses.
- Record companies and copyright organisations are, on the whole, still not realising the potential that the Internet provides financially, and therefore, rather than embracing it, they are trying to fight against something which is impossible to control. Again leading to the alienation of the consumer.
- The customer is always right 😉
Yeah, that’s all. Again, if I’ve made an incorrect claim, let me know. I have no agenda, just playing devil’s advocate 🙂
Rock on! \m/
Demonoid – Free Invites Underground Trading Circle
Revisions:
12-14-09: Cleaned up the entire demonoid form, and wrote a fresh new intro.
Note: Welcome Afterdawn users! Thanks for seeing the link, and if you have friends or you are just looking for a demonoid invite, you have come to the right place! ~ Versatile
Introduction
Demonid is back, and what better way to celebrate it than to restart the entire Demonoid invite ring?
How does it work?
I have suffered so much in the past trying to figure out the best way to make this work, and this is the solution. All you need to do is click the google spreadsheet form below, fill out the information, and then follow the instructions on the confirmation page.
If the notes on the confirmation page is so important, why even bother with the form at all? Well, that is a good question. The form is there so I can track from the beginning of time how many people have used this service, and so I can tell you guys how popular this invite ring is.
Also, it helps me figure out who has invites. If there were 1,000 people I have invited over the last year, that means I have at least 1,000 people ready to help me send out invites. Get it?
Enjoy your Demonoid journey! You deserve it, and this is the easiest way for me to help you out, as I have been in your shoes before. Beaten and frustrated, but now you don’t have to suffer. All I ask is just continue to visit the blog. Thanks!
[STD] P2P Is My Hot Hot Sex
Define STD: STD for The Underground Blog is short for Savvy Tech Dude/Dudette. The STD story is my attempt to share some insight into some of my practices, as well as others as to how they are using technology to make their life better, saving money, or perhaps bettering the environment. (Hopefully, I can find a female contributor… 🙂 )
Frequency of Story: When it feels right.
Personal Comment: I really love the STD idea, and with topics so broad, I can go anywhere with this series. The question is, how far down the rabbit hole do you and I want to go? 😛
In the meantime, I encourage all forms of interaction. Please sound off in comments, I’d appreciate it. If you have an idea, or want me to consider something different, I will. If you want to spread the word, be my guest. As time goes along, I’m asking for people to contribute, or if you want to be interviewed (I’ll protect your identity), then we can dig deeper. Please consider my offer, thanks!
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All right guys, I’m back in action to continue the STD stories. Last time around, I dived a little bit into the minds of the pirates, and how casual pirating has become “OK” in today’s society, especially among our youngsters, and even among the elderly. This time around, I want to slightly touch upon P2P scene in general, and what this means for the world around us.
Do not expect me to go into hardcore detail as to what is a torrent and how it works. I will go over a brief overview, but if you really want to learn about the protocol, please see the Wikipedia link at the end of this post. This is based off an interview account with a fellow internet user. His account is below, and we shall name him Cracker Jack.
(Image source: http://crunchgear.com)
[This is Cracker Jack’s Story]
Cracker Jack went to high school during the late nineties, and his first introduction into P2P was Napster. Do any of you remember using the old school Napster? Without Napster, you would not have iMesh, Scour, Limewire, WinMX, BearShare, and the sort.
What was Napster? It was a program that let you search other people’s hard drives for media content. You could find music, movies, pictures, text files, pdfs, just about anything to your heart content if you put in the right search term. See image below for example of the old school Napster interface:
So Cracker Jack’s family was just coming online with high speed internet and Cracker Jack remembers using 56K since the mid nineties, and when Yahoo DSL came to his neighborhood, he felt like a spoiled kid inside a candy store. Cracker Jack made a long list of must have movies like Terminator 1 & 2, Predator 1, Predator 2, whole slew of Adam Sandler movies, and bunch of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes because he was old school like that.
Then a grim day came in Year 2000 when Metallica found out that their song they had made for Mission Impossible 2 was leaked onto Napster. Since Napster used a centralized system for keeping track of all the files, it was very easy to take down the system. Destroy the central server, and good bye illegal file sharing…right? (Note: Today Napster is a legal music machine, where you pay to download music. Napster is a sell out. :P)
Surprise! The ball for P2P has already started, and there was no turning back. within a short amount of time, you started getting decentralized networks popping up, good examples being Edonkey, and the Fast Track network which used programs like iMesh, or Kazaa.
Well, did you know that the Kazaa program was riddled with spyware? Hell, it probably is still today. Hence, it was no surprise that some programmer came out with Kazaa Lite. Kazaa Lite was everything the original Kazaa program was, but without the spyware. It ran fast, and you can search everything you wanted for without worry big brother is watching you.
So Cracker Jack used Kazaa lite for a long time, but after awhile he and others got sick of it. Fake music files, and incorrectly named movies was becoming the norm. Cracker Jack dabbled into the IRC scene, downloaded music, and even messed around with the AOL Warez scene. He had been on serial key websites, and even made his own (short lived though). Since then, Cracker Jack had visited Warez sites, and underground forums with links to rapidshare and all kinds of digital media.
Life was good, but was it? In 2001 the biggest thing since sliced bread was the invention of BitTorrent, created by Bram Cohen. Now I won’t go into all the technical details as to how that works, but what it does is it allows people to distribute files very quickly and efficiently.
What you do is you get a “torrent” file, and the torrent file is like a pointer file that points to the complete file that is hosted on a bunch of computers that are sharing the file, or otherwise known as seeders. When you download a file, you are considered a leecher. The whole entity of seeders and leechers is considered the swarm.
Unlike traditional HTTP downloads, bitTorrent throttles its bandwidth. The beauty of the protocol is that it allows the user to download a file very fast, since it downloads bit and pieces of the file simultaneously from all computers in the network. The interesting part of bitTorrent is that when you download, you also upload at the same time. Thus, the file never dies until there are 0 seeders in the system. See below picture for more clarification.
Now in the P2P torrent scene, there is something called trackers. Trackers are employed by both public and private torrent websites. What these trackers do is keep track of the files activity, and it is what tracks the upload/download ratio of any specific user, as found on private websites like Demonoid.com.
Now I (Versatile1) won’t go into all the details as to how to get involved with torrents, but just know there are programs called torrent clients that allow you to use torrent files so you can download whatever to your computer. To find torrents, you can visit private membership sites (demonoid.com), or you can go to public sites like torrentz.com or isohunt.com. (See end for more resources).
With the advent of torrents, it has become the prime medium for file distribution. Please note that bitTorrent protocol is not illegal, it is sharing of copyrighted materials that make it illegal.
This is why you hear stories of the MPAA, BSA, and the RIAA cracking down on file sharers. When you use a torrent client, it effectively shares your IP address with the rest of the world. The copyright organizations can effectively log onto any torrent, collect all the IP addresses that they see at any given time, and then hunt you down. *shivers*
Of course, programs like Utorrent and Azureus allow you to use encryption, but I don’t think it saves you from having your IP address shared. Hence, we talk briefly about another program called PeerGuardian 2.
In short, Peerguardian 2 is a IP blocklist program. It allows the user to connect to a blocklist website and download a list of IPs that is affiliated with evil organizations. Of course, the protection of the user is only as good as the robustness of the blocklist. Nonetheless, using PG2 is better than using nothing at all. I still use torrents today with PG2, and if you use torrents, you should too.
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The bottom line: Peer to Peer technology has come a long way. As people find ways to share digital media online, it is a battle between sharing items without being undetected, while at the same time achieve optimal network efficiency. The P2P scene started with decentralized technology, but now everything has either moved to decentralized networks, pay to play schemes, IRC, UseNet, or underground DC++ hubs. File sharing will always exist, and it will be here forever. The only thing we as consumers need to do is just be careful in what you decide to download/upload, because big brother will be watching.
In summary:
- Napster started the P2P scene for the general public. It used a centralized system, but was easy to take down because of its centralized server.
- Today Napster uses a music subscription system, and is considered a sell-out to hardcore P2P fans.
- When Napster first went away, new decentralized programs took its place such as Kazaa, iMesh, Scour, Limewire, BearShare, and more. Many of these programs still exist today.
- BitTorrent came in 2001 and is the most popular technology today to distribute files. Never ever use the original bitTorrent client, as it sucks. I used to use Azerus, but I highly recommend Utorrent instead.
- To protect yourself in any forms of P2P media, please use IP blocking programs such as Peerguardian 2 or Protowall. Both of these programs will help protect you, although it is not 100% foolproof. It is better than using nothing.
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Versatile1 comment below:
I realize this STD story is very long, but you can see, I wanted to show the life of the P2P scene. Cracker Jack let me use part of his story, along with my explanations to get the message through. I think it worked quite nicely for the most part, don’t you think? :p I’m sure other people live in the P2P scene. To stay current and to learn more about P2P items, please refer to the links below:
Update 5-28-08: I didn’t touch upon anonymous P2P, but it does exist. Thanks to Commentor Ezzy, I have a new link for you undergrounders to try out: www.dargens.com. It is a another program that lets you trade P2P files anonymously. I have not tried this out, but it is worth checking if you want to try out something new.
Demonoid Down…. Again
Demonoid has gone down again and again for threats directed to the website. Today however, the threat has been to the hosting company through which Demonoid is renting servers from. The staff at Demonoid has made the home page into the following message:
“The CRIA threatened the company renting the servers to us, and because of this it is not possible to keep the site online. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your understanding.”
I have no idea how long they will be down, but something tells me they will be back in some form. No one can hold down the power of the Underground P2P network!
NEWS:
I just tried running my torrents, and to my surprise, the Demonoid trackers are DOWN. This does not look good for Demonoid.
iPhone Pseudo-GPS Solution
Now if you’ve been following iPhone news at all, you’ll know that one of the most sorely missing features of Apple’s all-in-one device is built-in GPS for real-time navigation with the GoogleMaps application. However, fear not, for there is now a suitable solution to this problem.
Navizon is a company that offers P2P wireless positioning via cell towers and WiFi connections for devices that are lacking a GPS module. Just last month, they released a version of the application for the iPhone, giving users a viable GPS solution to use in conjunction with GoogleMaps.
An important point to note, however, is that it is not as accurate as true GPS. According to those who have tested it, it can be as far off as a city block, or even fail to give a position at all in more remote areas. [http://iphone.macworld.com]
Despite this, it still has a relatively sleek and easy to use interface, and works well over a WiFi connection. It should suit the needs of a basic user, and is easier and less expensive than buying and carrying around a Bluetooth GPS module.
Peer Guardian 2
Do you like to download torrents and have you ever wondered if people can track what you are downloading?
Well, heres the deal. Yes, you CAN be tracked. Just as well, companies can ping you can slow down your download speeds a LOT.
“PeerGuardian 2 is Phoenix Labs’ premier IP blocker for Windows. PeerGuardian 2 integrates support for multiple lists, list editing, automatic updates, and blocking all of IPv4 (TCP, UDP, ICMP, etc), making it the safest and easiest way to protect your privacy on P2P.” ~Phoenix Labs
PeerGuardian blocks these ips and helps keep your computer safe from prying eyes. Doing some research, we found a bit of information on PG2
“Peerguardian works by blocking ranges of IP’s which are known to be unsafe. Depending on what you see, either they are trying to make a connection to you or you are trying to make a connection to them. It protects in ranges of P2P (addresses not good for P2P since they are logged or they are RIAA/MPAA spy IP’s) and other such as Ads etc. It is usually them trying to get into your computer because you have something they want, or maybe you’re connecting to them to try and get something. But whatever is blocked, is best blocked just for safety sake. note that if you are using filesharing – it is allowing people to get in to get files (that’s the point of filesharing) or if you are viewing websites you are making physical connections to toher computers. Peerguardian displays SOCKET OPENS – meaning that a connection was attempted. I don’t believe they are cracking in unless you are doing nothing wile being attacked, and it is against most ISP’s rules – hence illegal. I don’t think the US Navy is trying to get into your computer as such – maybe one of their computers have been hacked and being used as a relay or an employee is using it to hack – or someone not them is using their IP range. Even people in these gov’t IP ranges have been caught sharing. And no, I don’t think they are doing it for evidence in this case, but say BT users or Kazaa or anything else users, it is them (dangerous RIAA) initiating a connection to you in a perfectly legal manner because that’s what the software does – let people in. ANd you agreed to it on installation. Better yet, it goes the other way too – you make a connection to them to try and download and ur caught red handed.” ~ CD Freaks Forum
Peer Guardian is really effective, but only as effective as the blocklists. if some IP gets onto the list and it’s NOT a bad IP, then Peer Guardian actually HINDERS you. But for the most part it works very well. This is most noticeable when trying to use specific P2P programs like LimeWire or Xfire. (xfire tends to send pings back and forth from its internal servers and gaming servers as well as people on your friends list. LimeWire is a similiar case but this time other people are trying to connect to you). Don’t try to game online while using PG, you will not be able to connect unless you unblock the correct ips.
So, where do you go to get peerguardian? And does it cost anything?
Well, its open source, hence FREE.
for downloads, go to:
Welcome to the Underground. 